Local forces restricting ISIL movement in Iraq, Syria
 
  By Cheryl Pellerin, DoD News
  WASHINGTON, June 8, 2016  —
Local forces in Iraq and Syria are pressuring the Islamic State of
 Iraq and the Levant at multiple points on the battlefield, restricting 
the terrorist army’s mobility and options, the Operation Inherent Resolve spokesman said Wednesday. Speaking via on Skype from Baghdad, Army Col. Christopher 
Garver told Pentagon reporters the coalition sees increased pressure in 
Iraq and Syria. “As we've said all along, the goal is to increase that 
pressure, making the enemy fight in multiple directions at once,” he 
said, adding that the multifaceted push has made it harder for the ISIL 
fighters to move and harder for them to reinforce their numbers. “Everywhere we've got pressure, that's a place that you can't 
send fighters from,” Garver said. “We still have operations going on in 
the Euphrates River Valley in Iraq and in Hit, and they're clearing in 
Ramadi. Reinforcements for ISIL fighters aren't coming from Mosul, he 
said. “Any fighters that can get in, these are very small numbers,” he 
added. “We don't see convoys of big trucks where they're moving around. 
So it's getting harder for them to reinforce, [and] it's getting harder 
for them to resupply.” **Clearing Fallujah** In an update on operations, Garver began with the fight in 
Fallujah, where operations continue clearing the town on multiple axes 
entering the city. “Brigades from three Iraqi army divisions, Counterterrorism 
Service units, federal police and tribal fighters from the Anbar 
province are pushing in toward the center of Fallujah proper,” he said. 
Northwest of Fallujah City, brigades from the 14th Iraqi Army Division 
have been clearing the area and in the southeast brigades from the 1st 
Iraqi Army Division have been clearing toward the city near the 
Euphrates River, the spokesman said. Farther to the south, elements of the 17th and 8th Iraqi Army 
Divisions and Anbar tribal fighters have been back-clearing pockets of 
ISIL fighters from bypassed areas, and the 8th Iraqi Army Division has 
been clearing west of the city, Garver added. “The Counterterrorism Service is on the southern edge of the 
city proper and has been clearing before entering the city,” the colonel
 said. “The federal police and popular mobilization forces are 
continuing [to isolate] the Fallujah area and have cleared some suburban
 neighborhoods around the city.” ISIL has offered stiff resistance, Garver said, fighting with heavy machine guns and indirect fire from mortars and artillery. “The coalition conducted 67 airstrikes in the last three weeks 
in Fallujah in support of the operation,” Garver said, “including 31 in 
the last week and seven in the last 48 hours.” The coalition will continue to support the operation by sharing
 intelligence, and it has conducted hundreds of hours of intelligence, 
surveillance and reconnaissance support for the Iraqi forces over 
Fallujah to help the Iraqis develop an intelligence picture inside the 
city, he said. **Shaping Operations for Mosul** Describing two significant operations near Mosul, Garver said 
peshmerga forces conducted a swift attack to the east of Mosul on May 29
 to extend their forward line of troops and to control the Khazir River 
about 12 kilometers east of Qaraqosh. Peshmerga forces liberated eight villages and extended their 
forward line of troops about 15 kilometers. The fighters encountered 
moderate resistance from ISIL, the spokesman said, but secured their 
tactical objectives. Also near Mosul, Garver said, the coalition struck another 
Operation Tidal Wave II target about 9 kilometers west of Mosul to 
degrade ISIL's revenue from illicit oil and natural gas activities. 
Coalition aircraft struck a group of more than 100 ISIL trucks and 
dropped warning leaflets before the attack, he added. “The attack destroyed the bulk of the tanker trucks, and we had no reported civilian casualties in the strike,” Garver said. **Fighting in Syria** In northern Syria, Garver said, operations continue against ISIL near the town of Manbij. “Over the past several days the Syrian Democratic Forces -- led
 by the Syrian-Arab Coalition and composed of about 85 percent local 
Arabs fighting to liberate their homeland -- has ... made significant 
progress in seizing territory from and further isolating [ISIL] around 
Manbij,” he said. Manbij is strategically important to ISIL, whose fighters rely 
on its proximity to the Turkish border to smuggle in foreign fighters 
and supplies, and export terrorism to the West, Garver explained. “The SDF launched the attack a week ago ... from multiple points 
to the east of Manbij, the southernmost position being near the Tishrin 
Dam,” the colonel said. “The force of more than 3,000 troops advanced 
along multiple axes from east to west toward Manbij, [and] the SDF has 
made significant progress so far, including successfully executing a 
river crossing operation across the Euphrates River north of Tishrin.” ISIL offered heavy resistance as the operation began and at 
points along the way, he said, adding that coalition ofrficials believe 
ISIL will fight hard to retain Manbij, which is key terrain on the line 
of communication out of Raqqa. “The SDF continues to press the attack toward Manbij, though 
the cost has been high. They have suffered [about 12] killed and more 
than 100 wounded during the fighting, [including] the death of Abu 
Layla, leader of Shams al-Shamal, a multi-ethnic unified local 
liberation force and a suborganization of the Syrian-Arab Coalition,” 
Garver said. Since the start of the operation, he added, the coalition has 
conducted 102 airstrikes in Manbij, 84 of them since the operation began
 last week, and support continues to provide intelligence and ISR 
support. **ISIL Capabilities Diminished** ISIL is still unable to mount large-scale attacks in Iraq and 
Syria, instead creating small-scale, localized attacks designed to 
terrorize and disrupt rather than retaking lost territory, Garver said, 
and is shifting its tactics to conduct more suicide attacks than 
military attacks. “This does not mean the enemy is defeated yet,” the spokesman 
told reporters, noting that ISIL remains dangerous and still can attack 
both military forces and civilian targets. During the Muslim holy month 
of Ramadan, he added, officials expect ISIL to attempt more 
high-profile, headline-grabbing attacks “to sow terror and to distract 
from the fact that they keep losing militarily on the battlefield.”